The Nvidia scandal reaches Congress: Republicans and Democrats demand answers following Jensen Huang's resignation

Republican and Democratic lawmakers demanded explanations and an investigation following the resignation of Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, whose extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy sparked national security concerns.

Huang stepped down from his position just days after the scandal over his romance with Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center company and Nvidia's main business partner in Southeast Asia. U.S. authorities suspect she is also a Chinese spy.

Members of Congress are pressuring the Trump administration over the export of artificial intelligence chips to China. According to Axios, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick received a classified memo in May, drafted under the supervision of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, warning about Huang's relationship with an alleged spy.

"The Trump administration must also answer"

Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Senate Democratic leader, took aim at both Nvidia and the White House.

"Despite Jensen Huang's resignation, Congress must demand answers from Mr. Huang and others at Nvidia about how they may have put U.S. national security at risk," he wrote on X.

"The Trump administration must also answer for what it did once it learned about Mr. Huang's relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset," the Democrat said, who also asked whether officials were ordered not to investigate Trump's relationship with Huang.

In the House of Representatives, the Democratic minority leader and leading contender to become the next speaker of the House, Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called for an investigation into "whether America's national security has been compromised" by Huang.

Jeffries also criticized President Trump for suggesting that Tim Cook of Apple should replace Huang as the head of Nvidia: "This is just another example of Donald Trump weighing in on behalf of his views connected to corporate America, as opposed to focusing on working class America."

In addition, Congressman-elect Scott Wiener (D-CA) called for a full congressional investigation: "The resignation of Jensen Huang doesn't resolve the unanswered questions around national security and corporate political influence raised by his actions. Congress needs to fully investigate Mr. Huang's actions, including his apparent lobbying of the President to authorize advanced chip sales to our top global rival China."

On the Republican side, John Moolenaar (R-MI), chairman of the House Select Committee on China, stated that Huang's resignation is "an unfortunate outcome that could have been avoided." "It is in our national interest for NVIDIA and our other AI champions to succeed, but American companies should never jeopardize our nation's security by giving Chinese companies access to their most advanced chips," he continued.

In the Senate, Eric Schmitt (R-MO) called the case "really disturbing." "I do think that it just goes to show you China is willing to do anything," he said, adding that there could be bipartisan agreement to block the sale of chips to China.

Will Huang testify before Congress?

As Fox Business reported, Huang agreed to testify before House Republicans, possibly before Thanksgiving.

A few days ago, with the scandal already in full swing, the chairs of the Foreign Affairs committees, Brian Mast (R-FL), and the Intelligence Committee, Rick Crawford (R-AR), had sent a letter to Huang asking her to appear before Congress.

"[We] request that you appear before our committees for a joint, closed-door briefing on NVIDIA's security protocols against foreign adversary espionage and your interactions with a publicly reported People's Republic of China intelligence asset: Megaspeed executive Alice Huang," they wrote.

"This whole thing is an intergalactic freak show"

In addition, Republican Senator Jim Banks (R-IN) called on Secretary Lutnick to testify before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

"[Nvidia] opposed other export control laws, and now we know that the Department of Commerce Secretary Lutnick, it appears, used loopholes to allow some of these chip sales to occur. Even though President Trump has directed his administration and the Department of Commerce not to allow that to happen," Banks said during an interview with Fox News.

"So not only do I hope for Jensen Huang to come and testify, but I would like for Secretary Lutnick ASAP to come testify before the Senate Banking Committee," the Republican added, who is also a member of that committee.

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), who also requested the presence of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

"I'd like to hear from the Secretary of the Treasury and, more to the point, the Secretary of Commerce. I mean, why were they selling the chips? Did they follow the trail? How do they know the chips went to the company and not to the Communist Party of China? I mean, this whole thing is an intergalactic freak show," Kennedy told CNN.

"I mean, here's a man, head of one of the most powerful companies in the world, more than anybody else in the private sector. He's been making AI policy for America and certainly with respect to our relationship with China. And then we learn about this," he continued.